Drug utilization study in post-operative patients in obstetrics and gynecology ward of a tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines drug utilization as “the marketing, distribution, prescription, and use of drug in a society with special emphasis on resulting medical, social, and economic consequences.” Prescription monitoring and drug utilization patterns should be taken care, so it will provide better efficacy and reduce the adverse drug reactions. Aim and Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the prescribing pattern (using the WHO prescription Indicators). Materials and Methods: A retrospective drug utilization study was conducted in the post-operative patients of obstetrics and gynecology (OBG) department over a period of 4 months after getting approval from Institutional Ethics Committee. Name, sex, age, diagnosis, and treatment were recorded from patient’s case sheet of post-operative patients. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis with the help of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Result: A total of 238 cases were recorded. The average number of drugs per encounter was seven. Antacids, analgesics, antibiotics, and intravenous fluids were common. About 99.57% of encounters were prescribed an antibiotic. Average number of injections prescribed was 95.8% and 525 (31.47%) were prescribed by their generic name. About 99.8% were from the National list of essential medicine-2015. Conclusion: It was observed that most of the drugs were prescribed according to the national essential list of medicines. Major advantage in of the study is to prevent irrational prescription and reduce health-care burden in the community.